Politics 101

The Democrat Party is the Cool Uncle that buys Booze and Cigarettes for his Nieces and Nephews

People characterize the Republicans as being a bunch of old fogies. Out of touch. Who don’t have a clue about the world today. Unlike their childrendo. Who are wise beyond their years. For they know there is nothing really bad with underage drinking and smoking. Smoking marijuana. Or doing other drugs. And there is nothing wrong with casual sex. Sexting. Or nude selfies.

This is why the children of old fogies like the Democrat Party. Because the Democrats get them. Unlike their parents. Their parents tell them they shouldn’t stay out late, drink, smoke, do drugs or have sex. While the Democrats decriminalize marijuana and work to decriminalize other drugs. Provide free birth control. And abortion without parental notification. Making the Democrat Party the cool uncle that buys booze and cigarettes for his nieces and nephews. So is it any wonder that the youth vote goes Democrat?

The ironic thing, though, is that these old fogies were once young themselves. And some were pretty wild in their youth, too. But once they became parents things changed. For when it’s their daughter they don’t want her being objectified. Encouraged to explore her sexuality by having so much casual sex that she catches a sexually transmitted disease or gets pregnant. Especially if they did in their youth. Which is the last thing they want for their little girl. Who is and will forever remain their little girl.

Keynesian Economics conditioned People to accept that Government knows Best

This is the rule. Not the exception. As kids grow up fighting their parents they reach a point in life where they realize that their parents were right all along. That if they had only spent more time on their homework and less time partying things would have turned out better. Life may have been less fun in the short-run but much better in the long-run. They’d had an earlier start in their career. A career with better pay and benefits. They could have bought a house sooner. Met someone to marry and start a family with sooner. Instead of finding themselves at 25 buried under student loan debt for a degree that can’t get them a job. And a decade or so of hooking up having conditioned men to shun any serious commitment. Leading their daughters to turn to serial dating and online dating. As they struggle to find someone else who has grown up, too.

This is what the old fogies know. That their kids don’t. You get wiser with age. Thanks to education. And experience. Two things the young just don’t have. And never will. Because by the time they grow wise from education and experience they are no longer kids. But well on their way to ‘old fogery’. Which is, of course, a problem for the Democrat Party. For a wise voting public will not help them win elections. As their Keynesian economic policies have nothing but a long record of failure. Giving us the Great Depression, the stagflation of the 1970s, the dot-com recession and the Great Recession. To name a few bad economic times Keynesian economics have given us. Things older people know from education and experience. But the kids voting Democrat don’t.

Keynesian economics ushered in the era of Big Government. And did something the Socialists could not. Conditioned people to accept that government knows best. Especially young people. Uneducated and inexperienced young people. Despite the Democrats’ horrible record concerning things economic. Because of this record the Democrats use lies and deceit to attack free market capitalism. That economic system that worked better than any other. To get people who knew no better to mistrust free market capitalism. And ask for the government to fetter unfettered capitalism. To make the world a fairer place.

The Democrats use Public Education to teach our Kids to Distrust Capitalism and to Trust Government

It sounds good to the inexperienced and uneducated. Because it feels good to think in terms of fairness. And if there is one thing the young have are emotions. They like to use their hearts. Not their brains. As they are idealistic and naïve. Unlike those old fogies who are realists. They can’t be fooled or swayed by the Democrat lies because they have learned and experienced a lot in their long lives. And heard the same old Democrat lies all through those long lives. Which is why the Democrats work so hard on the youth vote. The War on Women, their lax drug attitudes, birth control, abortion, gay rights…all of these are to get the young to think in terms of fairness. To tug on their heartstrings. To get them emotional. And keep them emotional. As well as ignorant.

The more ignorant people are the easier it is to lie to them. Anyone who knows the history of Western Civilization will understand how life became better for people as we moved closer to free market capitalism. Anyone who knows classical economics will understand how thrift, savings, free trade, sound money, etc., made America the number one economy in the world. While the Keynesian policies of today are threatening to knock America out of that number one spot. People who understand these things are not going to vote Democrat. Which is why the Democrats work hard to keep people from learning these things. By constantly lying about them. And not teaching them in the institutions they control. Our public schools. And our institutions of higher education.

The Republican equation for winning votes is a difficult equation. Knowledge + Experience + Reason = Republican Votes. It’s difficult because the Democrats have long controlled public education. Thanks to their friends in the teacher unions. And their friends running our institutions of higher education. Which spend more time teaching our kids to distrust capitalism. And to trust government. To feel more. And think less. To live for today. And not worry about tomorrow. Making it very difficult for the Republicans to get young voters to vote for them. As they are unknowledgeable (thanks to our public schools), inexperienced (because they are young) and prefer emotion over reason (because feeling is more fun than thinking). Which is why old fogies (the knowledgeable, experienced and thinking) vote Republican and the youth vote does not.

Fundamental Truth

Having the Ability to give Beautiful Young Women Nice Things helped Charlie Harper get them in Bed

On the show Two and a Half Men there was an episode where Charlie (played by Charlie Sheen) was having a conversation with someone where he was trying to defend himself and the choice he makes in women. In broke off in mid sentence and said something like, “Yeah, you got me. Young and dumb. That’s how I like them.” Or something like that.

Charlie Harper was about 40 years old. Rich. He drank to excess. Smoked cigars. Gambled. Enjoyed strip bars and prostitutes. And he womanized. Getting beautiful young women back to his Malibu beach house for one night of passion. Which was all he wanted. One night. The ladies thought he wanted more. Because of the lies he told them to get them to his Malibu beach house. And when they left in the morning they expected Charlie to call them. But he never did. Which is why he liked his women dumb. For it was easier getting them into bed. And out of it.

Charlie was skilled in the art of picking up women. And what to do with them after picking them up. Skill gained over years of experience. And being rich helped, too. Because being able to give beautiful young women nice things (expensive dinners, going to the best clubs, spending the night at a Malibu beach house, gifts, etc.) got their attention. They liked that life. And wanted more of it. So they went to his bed with him. Thinking that by doing whatever he wanted there would be more of this glamorous life to come. But before that could happen Charlie was telling his lies to another young and dumb woman.

Every Communist Dictator that promised a Utopia to their People made their lives Absolutely Horrible

Charlie was engaged a few times. The last time he was engaged to Chelsea (played superbly by Jennifer Taylor). Who was a little older than most of the women he took to his bed. Smart. And wise. She had a career. Though he had a long engagement (for him) it did not last. Because she could do better. Eventually leaving him for someone more mature. In fact, every age-appropriate relationship he had failed. Because he did not do well unless they were young and dumb. As Chelsea said one time when leaving after a breakup, “We both knew you were going to blow it eventually.”

You can learn a lot by watching Two and a Half Men. For the world is full of Charlie Harpers. People that lie and manipulate people to get what they want. Who depend on people being young and dumb. This is how liberals have risen to power. By selling their utopian world view to the young and ignorant. Before they get old and wise. And learn the truth of their liberal utopia.

There was an article in Rolling Stone saying what America needs is full-blown communism. The author is a young guy. An academic type. Knows everything. But has experienced nothing. His head was filled with communist ideals from his leftist professors.

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world…

But what John Lennon doesn’t sing about in Imagine is that every communist dictator that promised these things to the people made their people’s lives absolutely horrible. Where people lived in fear of the secret police. Were tortured at the hands of the secret police. And died at the hands of the secret police. Communism as an ideology has killed more people than any other dictator or ideology in all of history. Yet college kids everywhere still imagine a world where all the people live as one. Under the boot of an oppressive police state. That forces the people to live in a brotherhood of man. Or die.

Liberals are in a lot of ways like Charlie Harper because they like their Electorate Young and Dumb

Joseph Stalin terrorized his people with the KGB. The East Germans shot their own people who tried to escape climbing over the Berlin Wall. Cambodia’s Pol Pot killed a greater percentage of a nation’s population than any other dictator in history. Cubans risk their lives to float from Cuba to the United States. The masses in North Korea still suffer famine because of their oppressive Stalinist state. Where it’s the military first. Then the people. And so on. Yet college students still wear shirts with pictures of Che Guevara wearing his beret. This hero of ignorant college students. A guy who had urged the Soviets to launch their nuclear missiles at the United States during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

And when the secret police wasn’t killing their people the people were going without the most basic necessities. For their planned economies could not keep their store shelves stocked. So people went without many of the things people in Western capitalist economies take for granted. Things even ignorant college students take for granted. Things they just couldn’t get in their beloved communist utopias. Ronald Reagan won the Cold War not by waging nuclear war. He won it by creating an arms race that the Soviet economy could not keep up with AND feed her people. Like the Americans could. In fact, the American economic output was so great that they could feed all Americans with enough left over to export to the Soviet Union. So the Soviet people did not die from famine.

All throughout history free market capitalism provided a better life than any planned economy. Even in the United States. When FDR increased government spending to end a recession it only stretched out that recession into the Great Depression. Excessive government spending didn’t work in the 1970s for Nixon, Ford or Carter. Nor did it work during the Great Recession for Obama. But cuts in tax rates provided explosive economic growth for Warren Harding/Calvin Coolidge in the 1920s, JFK in the 1960s, Ronald Reagan in the 1980s and even George W. Bush in the 2000s. Yet the young and dumb buy the liberal lie that government spending can provide a better life for all despite history proving otherwise. And keep voting liberal. Until they get old and wise, that is. And start voting conservative.

Liberals are in a lot of ways like Charlie Harper. For they like their electorate young and dumb. So they can more easily lie to them. To get what they want. By making promises they never intend to keep. Such as that brotherhood of man sharing all of the world. For after a century or so of promising this the only people who ever enjoyed the liberal/communist utopia were those few in power.

Week in Review

More people are going on to college than ever before. And we have the student loan debt to prove it. As recent graduates threaten to default on their loans as they can’t get a job with their worthless degrees in the humanities and social sciences. Expensive degrees colleges sold them. Promising them fulfilling careers. But a degree in minority studies or French literature ain’t going to go far in a high-tech economy.

And that’s the problem. People are going to college for the wrong reason. To party. They want to have fun. And take the easier degrees so they aren’t weighed down by too much school work. It’s so bad that high-tech companies are using the visa system to fill job openings. As they can’t find American graduates that have the same qualifications as foreign graduates. Who actually take math and science. And get the education businesses are looking for (see Distinguishing Science from Nonsense by Arthur Caplan, Ph.D., posted 12/31/2013 on bioethics.com).

As Americans enter 2014 there is grave concern among our political leaders that we are lagging behind other nations in terms of our children’s’ scientific literacy. This past December an international survey confirmed—too many American kids don’t understand science and they continue to fall behind children from other nations, many much poorer than we are in science and math skills.

Students in the United States slipped deeper in the last international science literacy rankings amid fast-growing competition abroad. American teens scored below the international average in math and roughly average in science, compared against dozens of other countries in the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). We trail Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Britain, Latvia, Viet Nam and many more. (http://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings/pisa-2012-results.htm)…

A key reason for the poor performance of our children with respect to science is that American culture is both ignorant of and disrespectful to science…

As I write this there are two women in ICUs in different parts of the U.S. on life support despite having been pronounced dead by medical experts… Neither the media or the medical profession seemed to be able to explain that brain death is truly death. Nor did the public seem inclined to listen, believing somehow that a miracle might occur.

At the same time as these cases emerged a poll was released by the Pew Foundation showing that a third of Americans do not believe in evolution…

And as I write this flu season has begun across the country. The CDC estimates that last year 381,000 Americans were hospitalized due to the flu. They also estimate that, the flu vaccine prevented 79,000 hospitalizations and 6.6 million illnesses. Yet a tiny cabal of kooks and know-nothings has gotten so much attention that barely half of all Americans get a flu shot…

The nutritional supplements industry is a thirty billion dollar business that has no solid evidence for efficacy and oodles of instances in which death and disability are linked to poorly manufactured or mislabeled products…

I could go on but the point ought to be clear. Children are not going to flourish at science in a society that treats science either as something you can believe in selectively, something that is simply one point of view or something about which anyone can have a credible opinion no matter how ill-qualified, dumb or misinformed.

If we want to have a brighter economic future then we need to start thinking about science education outside of our schools.

The teacher unions support Democrats. And Democrats protect teacher unions. So is it any surprise that they are programming our children to be good Democrat voters instead of teaching them good science? Filling their heads with politicized science like global warming. For it is politicized science when a consensus closes a subject to debate. That is something that just doesn’t happen in good science. If it were then physicists would just take a vote on what better reconciled general relativity and quantum mechanics. Loop quantum gravity or string theory? Of course, physicists don’t reach a consensus to determine which science is the right science. But that’s what climate ‘scientists’ do. And Al Gore. And our public schools. And our universities. They say there is a consensus and the scientific debate is settled. We are warming the planet. And the only way to save the planet is with massive government regulation. With Democrats in power to write ever more regulations.

The reason why Americans are falling behind in math and science is because the Democrats use education for political ends. Not for educating our children. For they couldn’t win an election if they did. They need a crisis. Like global warming. A crisis and an ignorant electorate. Which their friends in education give them. And because they do children from Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Britain, Viet Nam and many more are now smarter than American children.

Fundamental Truth

People buy Insurance to pay a Small Fee to Insure against a Large and Unexpected Financial Loss

What is insurance for? To help mitigate a large financial loss. Crossing the ocean can be dangerous. There are storms. Wars. Even pirates. Shippers can lose very costly cargoes. Most ships make it to their destination without incident. Wise people noted this a long time ago. And they came up with an idea. Insurance.

Let’s illustrate this with an example. Let’s say there are 100 ocean crossings in one year. Each one of these crossings has cargo valued at $10 million each. Let’s say of those 100 crossings only three sink. A loss of $30 million. A loss few can afford. But there are only three ships that sink. And at the beginning of the year no one knows whose ships will sink. It could be anyone. And everyone of the anyone has a very strong desire not to be the one losing a ship with a $10 million cargo. So they are willing to pay a small fee to insure against a greater loss.

Here’s a general idea of how it works. With 100 crossings valued at $10 million each that’s $1 trillion in total cargo. Of that $1 trillion there’s a very good chance based on past history that $30 million of it will sink to the bottom of the ocean. So if we divide that catastrophic loss by those 100 crossings that’s an additional $300,000 insurance cost to add to each of the 100 crossings. So instead of a possible loss of $10 million a shipper will only have a definite ‘loss’ of $300,000. Which is far less than $10 million. And something they can plan for. As they can add it to the price to their customers.

People don’t buy Health Insurance because a Larger Percentage of the Population doesn’t get Cancer or have Bad Car Accidents

Because of insurance none of these shippers will have to suffer a $10 million loss should it be their ship that sinks to the bottom of the ocean. This is insurance. Everyone pays a small fee to protect themselves from a great financial loss. And that fee is far, far smaller than that potential financial loss. This is the only way great things get done. Great things require huge outlays of money. And no one would risk those outlays if they didn’t have a way to mitigate their losses should their ship sink. Literally. Or figuratively.

This is insurance. Paying a small fee to insure against an unexpected and catastrophic financial loss. Health insurance today doesn’t do this. It pays for everything. Including the routine things we know about and can budget for. Things that are unlikely to bankrupt us. Office visits. Flu shots. Physicals. Breast exams. Colonoscopies. These are all part of living. We know we will have these expenses. Just as we know we have to buy groceries and gasoline. But there is no grocery and gasoline insurance. And thank God for that. They’re expensive enough. Can you imagine their costs if they went up like health insurance?

The reason why health insurance is so expensive is because it is not insurance. It doesn’t just pay for the unexpected and catastrophic financial losses. Like incurred from a cancer diagnosis. Or a car accident. It pays for everything. In our shipping example that would be like those shippers paying a $10 million insurance premium to insure a $10 million cargo. Which would never happen. Because it would be less costly to lose the occasional cargo. Because every ship doesn’t sink. At most three may in one year. Even if all three ships were yours it would be cheaper to replace $30 million in cargo than paying $1 billion in insurance premiums. This is why a lot of people choose NOT to buy health insurance. Because a larger percentage of the population doesn’t get cancer or have bad car accidents.

The Left learned after the 1994 Mid-Term Elections that they had to Lie to get National Health Care

Obamacare just makes everything worse. Because it forces insurance companies to pay for even more routine and expected medical expenses. Increasing the cost of health insurance even more. Which in turn increases the cost of business. Which provides most health insurance these days as an employee benefit. With Obamacare mandates to provide more of everything the cost has grown so much that businesses have been dropping their health insurance benefits. Or cutting back hours to escape the Obamacare mandates. Making Obamacare a big part of the anemic economy. For it is a great disincentive to creating jobs. And hiring people.

Now, anyone with a rudimentary understanding of economics knows this. If you keep raising the cost of business you will see less economic activity. The left understands this when it comes to interest rates. It’s why they want to keep printing money to keep interest rates low. To lower the cost of borrowing so businesses borrow more to expand their businesses. So they do understand at least one cost of doing business. But they seem to be completely ignorant when it comes to taxes and regulatory compliance. For while they worry about rising interest rates hurting business they don’t have any concern about rising taxes or regulatory compliance costs. Why?

Because they are truly ignorant? If so they shouldn’t be anywhere near the economy. Or they are devious? And lying through their teeth to deceive the American public to get something they want? Well, they may be ignorant. But the smart money is on devious. For the left has always wanted national health care. But the people don’t. When President Clinton tried it he lost the House in the 1994 midterm election. And the left learned a lesson. To get national health care they had to lie to the people. Which is what Obamacare is. A big lie. It will do nothing President Obama said it would do. All it will do is destroy the private health insurance industry by placing regulatory compliance costs on businesses and the private health insurance industry that will simply put the private health insurance business out of business. As we are seeing. Leaving uninsured people that the government must step in to insure. And once they do they’ve got their national health care. While giving the American people the middle finger. “Say no to our national health care?” they’ll say. “Well, [deleted expletive] you.” They will say this figuratively, of course, with their actions. For they will never let go of the lie that Obamacare is about lowering costs and insuring the uninsured. And not the truth that it is nothing but a means to advance their agenda.

Week in Review

Now that the Supreme Court upheld Obamacare our health care will be everything we ever hoped it to be. It will give us everything we want. And it will be inexpensive. Granted nothing else in the world works like this. Where customers get more by paying less. And no national health care system has ever been everything the planners said it would be. Unless the architects of these plans said they were going to introduce high taxes, long wait times and rationing of health care services. Which I kind of doubt. Because people typically want the opposite of these things. Yet this time it will be different. The Americans will be able to provide that ever elusive health care utopia. Why? I can only think of two possible reasons (see Repealing the Affordable Care Act Will Soon Be Considered Absurd by Ron Pollack posted 7/10/2012 on U.S. News and World Report).

Under the law, it will be illegal for insurers to discriminate against women by charging higher premiums simply because of their gender. Nobody—male or female—will be denied coverage or charged higher premiums because of a pre-existing condition, like asthma or diabetes. No one will live in fear of their insurance being canceled. People will no longer be subject to arbitrary lifetime or annual caps in what insurers pay out, thereby denying coverage when it is needed the most.

The act also comes with much-needed direct help for middle class families. They will receive substantial subsidies to make health insurance premiums affordable. Seniors will no longer fall into the huge prescription drug coverage gap in Medicare euphemistically-named the “doughnut hole.” Comprehensive preventive care will be available at no cost for women, including mammograms and contraception.

So in other words insurers can no longer recover their costs. They have to provide more benefits while at the same time charging less in premiums. Sort of like forcing McDonald’s to replace the Big Mac combo meal with steak and lobster. While at the same time forcing them to lower the price for that combo meal. There’s a name for an economic formula like that. Failure.

This cannot work. Unless your goal is to put the private health insurers out of business. If that is the goal than, yes, Obamacare will work very well. For no business ever remained in business by selling their product or service for less than their costs. That’s just not how business works. So it is clear that they designed Obamacare to put the private health insurers out of business. Unless those who wrote Obamacare into law are just very ignorant about things economic.

So there it is. Take your pick. Devious. Or ignorant. This is our government. Whichever it is it doesn’t make a difference for the American people. For unlike what the president promised us we won’t be able to keep our health insurance if we like it. Because Obamacare will put all of the private health insurance businesses out of business. By forcing them to sell their policies below their costs. Guaranteeing that they will all fail. And giving us high taxes, long wait times and a rationing of health care services. Just like everybody else that tried national health care.